How many miles does it take to wear out a pair of Vibrams?

Roughly 1250 or so miles finally wore out my Kangaroo Vibram running shoes.
It was nice that the day these shoes finally expired was on a 9 mile blue loop in the Kettle Moraine trails, which was also the same place, same trail that I had my maiden voyage run in Vibrams!
... As I ran this time I noticed that the big toes Felt slightly "funky" on both shoes. They were okay but something felt a bit odd. For quite some time too it's been feeling pretty thin underfoot - I could feel the rocks a bit more and I could feel the heat of pavement when I ran roads.
So.... When I took my feet from my dusty & dirt covered shoes after a perfect blue loop run, this picture is what I saw: a hole in the outer sole of the left foot, worn out forefoot soles with lots of life left in the heels, where I don't strike. And while it's hard to show the first two toes on both shoes are totally blown out!
Now, it's a little hard to say goodbye to a great pair of shoes, especially a pair that went almost 3 times the distance that most traditional running shoes go.

An icy Run Jan 10, 2011 1:29:36 PM

Route (newly made up today) : French Country Run
Activity: Run
Started: Jan 10, 2011 1:29:36 PM
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 7.76 miles
Fastest Pace: 7:54 /mile
Climb: 184 feet
Calories: 736
Official Route: Yes
Clothing Worn: Vibram Treks (yes, still wearing Vibrams the whole winter! Coldest day in them so far has been "feels like 2 degrees" .. but it's coldest not when it's cold but when my feet feel the snow or ice underneath ... takes awhile to warm up!
See Nature Photography of Ice on Lake Geneva

I love making up new routes to run .. sometimes I sit earnestly, looking at Google Maps, scoping out possible runs. I wind up calculating distances at many junctures since my runs typically move from trail to road and there is no way to get google to trace distances on anything but road. ... The most fun I have in making new routes though is having a general idea and then literally drawing the map with my forward motion (see below).
This particular route gave me scenery from two of our larger lakes, Lake Como (first) and then Lake Geneva, where running along the shore provided me ample serene pictures of the almost hauntingly quiet lake. The honking geese and the cracking ice are the music that I hear and I prefer that to the summer crowds that make their noises with speed boats and jet skis in the summer time.
It was a bit warmer than its been lately - roughly 20 degrees - so I snapped a few pictures (below) with my Iphone of the Ice Art by Mother Nature .... not sure how many get out to appreciate it!

S-NO-W Fun Run Jan 8, 2011 2:30:30 PM

Route: Race 5 Mile Snow Fun Run, Lake Geneva,WI
Activity: Run
Google Maps URL: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/3302/7a27/4b65/7a5d/Runmeter-Run-20110108-1430.kml
Shortened Google Maps URL: http://j.mp/dZ0F6C
Started: Jan 8, 2011 2:30:30 PM
Run Time: 36:13
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 5.00 miles
Average: 7:15 /mile
Fastest Pace: 6:10 /mile
Climb: 48 feet
Calories: 453
Official Route: Yes
Notes: The race didn't start until 2:30 which was probably not the best given that you have all kinds of time to build a bit of anxiety. It's harder to focus as well because I try to get a few things done prior to driving to the race.
Cool day though all around, even though my mile averages were 15 seconds slower than last week's race. I'm thankful and grateful to be running consistently and to be racing again. In and of itself, if I never were to get increasingly faster (as I hope) I'd be happy just for the sheer joy I have from running!
Speaking of joy and joyful people there are two that I'd like to mention here. I was sitting inside the warming building (the Forum) at the Grand Geneva stretching when I spotted a big smile from a man who looked familiar. I saw a small effervescent white haired lady next to him and recognized him. I walked over and said, "Are you Paul?" he'd already recognized me and his wife knew the story of how we'd met in the Kettles late in the summer of last year. He was a not tanned this time by the glowing sun but his spirit was there and his wife's spirit mimicked his or perhaps it was the other way around. Paul's 87 years must be full of stories - next time I meet he and his wife I'd love to hear some of them. When I was small I'd engage my Grandparents with my never ending curiosity for their stories ... How they grew up, how they lived way back before I existed... There is so much wonderful in the wise elders. I respect them with all my heart. And Paul and his wife are wise with character. They are sweet together, holding hands as they walk, she waiting a bit nervously for him to be done with the race, and how they both looked earnestly for one another when Paul did enter the building after the race. I found Paul, then found his wife ( I feel badly that her name escapes me) and pointed them to one another through the packed crowd.
We were packed in like sardines at the start of the race. There were no "sub 6", "sub 7", "sub anything" ques to put people where they should start. So haphazard was what the race was and though i started more towards the front I was terribly boxed in right away. My goal was to get out a little faster to avoid the box but it didn't work with no honor system to start. My guess is that this was meant to be more of a party so there were lots of inexperienced runners in the mix. A different type of race, perhaps closer to those red dress drinking racing ... Um,
After less than a mile I felt my pace.. Again, it just kind of clicks into place, feeling good then, knowing I can hold it. But it was slower today than last week by about 15 secs per mile... Quite a lot given the race is shorter. Lots of factors go into racing: rest, psyche, race course, maybe today it was even the cold. It just felt harder.
I ask myself ,"Why do I say this is fun to race?" hmm, or did I ever say that? Yep, I think it's afterwards that I say that. The pain is quickly forgotten when you cross the finish line where the red L.E.D numbers tell you how fast or slow you were. That last mile might as well be faster than slower .. the quicker you get to the finish the quicker you stop feeling the pain.
Oh, the pain isn't negative.. Probably like childbirth, it's fully worth it (though I have no experience in the latter).
Somewhere between mike 3 and mile 4 brought me up on to a familiar profile. I stayed behind her for several moments and as I scooted past she piped out some positive words. Yep, that'd be Julie, the girl I'd met in the last race. She is probably the only woman that's been so upbeat when another woman passes her. But she's a wonderful spirit all around. I heard her behind me yelling thankyou's towards the race officials - . We exchanged a few more words back and forth and some laughter that helped me get up that never ending hill. Into the tunnel on the straightaway after the hill. There was my kick but the end was longer out than I thought it was. A brief hesitation and in spite of wanting to slow down I didn't dare. There was one woman that didn't fall back when I passed her... I didn't have that lunge pass in me today... So I had to keep it strong. I kicked harder and I could hear her feet behind me. Around the corner to the right, I knew the shoot was close. There were the red numbers. I could see them at 36:00 and the next 16 seconds were the longest and simultaneously the fastest of the race.
http://www.runmeter.com

Kristen Westlake
Wildlife and Landscape Photography
http://www.Kristenwestlake.com
Blog: http://www.Kristenwestlake.net

Run into the New Year Race 10K Dec 31, 2010 12:00:11 PM

Race Results 10K
10K Age Group Awards
Route: Race 10k Run into the New Year
Activity: Run
Google Maps URL: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/3302/7a27/4b65/7a5d/Runmeter-Run-20101231-1200.kml
Shortened Google Maps URL: http://j.mp/fXryMs
Started: Dec 31, 2010 12:00:11 PM
Run Time: 43:32
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 6.20 miles
Average: 7:01 /mile
Fastest Pace: 5:50 /mile
Climb: 43 feet
Calories: 582
Official Route: Yes
Notes: I was on a high after this race. Im happy to see progress in many respects which includes my time but other attributes as well. This race felt like a dance and a dance that was like an embracing entrance back into the world of racing.
Running has always held a place in my heart... A place where my heart could express itself and it would be heard by the wind that drew me forward and by the Earth that held my stride. There was and is, always has been, something that has a need to be expressed and in running there is no repression of the dance ... it just plays out as it's felt, no limitations, no restrictions, no ceilings..., just blue skies as far as I can RUN.. it's like writing poetry with my soul... Racing is a dance that surges with exclamation points and exilleration that escalates up and above the clouds until it's expression catapults into a thunder that drives me forward, propelling me forward with no effort at all...
Such is running to me... You might see how and why this form finds importance to my spirit as expression, mind as tranquility, and body as beauty...
So, this race... Yeah, it all came back. This beauty that I spoke of with the addition of modern wisdom
Gained only from years of having lived more than a decade since my last race.
The focus was back. I had no expectations prior except that my dreams seem to tell me truths ahead of time. One was that there wouldn't be enough volunteers. This was true as the volunteers seemed a bit lazy on the course and I ran left at the end where I should have run right. I had to yell to the volunteers to ask, "10K?" wrong way probably cost me a few seconds and certainly I wasn't about to let it cost me a loss to the girl I had just passed, who was now ahead of me due to the mishap. I pulled out a sprint from somewhere inside of me and surged forward knowing the finish was somewhere close by ....
At the start the 5K and 10K started together and since I like to start slower than my pace I was pretty boxed in for almost a full mile. I felt out my pace quicker than I did in the last race, which was good.. It's this feeling that comes over me that just feels SOLID.
The first mile was 7:25. My runmeter says 7:31 as I started the meter at the 6 sec countdown. I knew that my pace was faster, probably at least 7:15, maybe faster and it felt strong and easy. Yep, I could hold this pace, feel it out and maybe surge out faster in the next few miles. I'd be in every moment and feel it out.
Mile 2 was 14:29 so I knew I was running just over 7 minute miles and I could hold it. 22:11 was the clock at the 5K and I knew that if I ran that for the second half that a 44:22 would be a minute and a half faster than my last race.... But my 43:32 was an additional minute quicker than it would have been had I held that pace.
While most people race faster in their first miles, or first half, I've always been unusual in that I race faster in my second half. Mile 4 was my fastest and was the mile that broke from the 5K runners to connect with the lonelier and sparser 10K gang of runners. This also is where my focused eyes locked in on a woman who claimed rank ahead of me in the last race. A surge of healthy adrenaline sped me up and I stayed behind and to her right to draft briefly. But the pace felt slow to me now and I wasn't here just to outrun other racers.. I was here to run my own race, my own PRs, with myself and against my old times. Who I Was ahead of, where I'd place would play out best if I ran my own race.
So I didn't play it smart by drafting for long. Around her and into the wind I flew, keeping the lunged speed to ensure she wouldn't try to hang on.
Then there was another woman who'd placed ahead of me in the last race. I almost repeated the last scenario. Practicing rusty racing techniques of drafting and then surging, I found that I wasn't so rusty. If anything I had gained the additional knowledge of trust in what I was feeling ... How did my body feel? The mental mind games that keep your body racing forward when it feels like slowing down were there.
Surge, go!
The vision of the red numbers displaying a faster time at the finish were prominent in my mind at mile 5. I knew I had to fly strongly by those that I'd pass. Though I was racing hard and feeling it, I knew I was strong... Stronger than those I'd pass. My pace held. I imagined my kitty Lotti, and sent strength to her, I prayed for God to carry me when I felt weak, and my mantra was "CORE" .. running from the core is effortless. Powering with legs and arms demands energy that flows to the sides and out your back - wasted energy. Core is why even my abs feel the next day. All of me feels the race the next day, in a bask of delighted fatigue.
Up the hill on the last 500 yard straightaway and I turned left, yelling "10K??!!" "No!" someone yelled, "Go right!" I pirouetted on a dime and shot back to where the woman I had just passed was now ahead. I now had those lost seconds to make up and another racer to pass again. I sprinted. I have no idea where it came from. Once you hunt the hunted you become the prey and sprinting would give more chance of not being caught in those final seconds towrds the finish.
Catapulting into the shoot and seeing the red numbers 43:32 ... I could rest now..
http://www.runmeter.com

Kristen Westlake
Wildlife and Landscape Photography
http://www.Kristenwestlake.com
Blog: http://www.Kristenwestlake.net

Runmeter Run Dec 14, 2010 2:47:52 PM

Route: UpChuck With Half A brain
Activity: Run
Google Maps URL: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/3302/7a27/4b65/7a5d/Runmeter-Run-20101214-1447.kml
Shortened Google Maps URL: http://j.mp/haunNY
Started: Dec 14, 2010 2:47:52 PM
Run Time: 1:43:54
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 9.81 miles
Average: 10:35 /mile
Fastest Pace: 8:48 /mile
Climb: 349 feet
Calories: 1070
Official Route: Yes
Notes: A good long run today. Lots of snow and icy slush on the sides if the roads. The thought of ice always makes me a bit on the tentative side.
Also the ground is much harder with the cold and the hard packed snow and ice so I was a bit Leary of going too far on the hard surface. I was fine. My feet are and feels so strong!
My tendons are their usual sore after the run. But seems they are getting better with more stress. More stress gives them some soreness but they recover quickly.

http://www.runmeter.com

Kristen Westlake
Wildlife and Landscape Photography
http://www.Kristenwestlake.com
Blog: http://www.Kristenwestlake.net

Elf 10K race Run Nov 28, 2010 9:00:42 AM

Race Results
10K overall results
10K Age Group Results
Route: Elf 10k Race Ocononowoc
Activity: Run
Google Maps URL: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/3302/7a27/4b65/7a5d/Runmeter-Run-20101128-0900.kml
Shortened Google Maps URL: http://j.mp/hIy0Zn
Started: Nov 28, 2010 9:00:42 AM
Run Time: 45:51
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 6.32 miles
Average: 7:16 /mile
Fastest Pace: 6:49 /mile
Climb: 26 feet
Calories: 589
Official Route: Yes
Notes: So this is more like it ! This race was great and much more along the lines of what I expected (but shouldn't have) in the race last week.
Rather than do all of my "normal" Pre race planning like tapering, etc I just ran all week whatever I felt. Two days before I ran a pretty hard 5 mile run. It was beneficial in that, since I am just being "re birthed" into racing as a second chapter in my life, it helped me to accurately see how I need to warm up at least a mile before I start to feel my pace. Once I feel my pace something literally "clicks" inside me and I can play with my pace. It's at that point that I know myself so very well. It's then that my focus becomes so intense and I'm completely into a meditative flow. Running becomes a dance that expresses this zone.
So, no Pre-race slow downs and a focus set Pre race for no expectations other than to enjoy it. That got me to thinking of how do I get that warmup in? My runs all start with a super slow 10 min mile to get my feet and legs warmed up. Then comes the gradual increase in speed and then somewhere around 2 miles I feel that "switch" turn on that says,"Alright,'you know your pace. Now go! Play!"
So I visualized what I needed to do and did it yesterday. Not more than 30 minutes before the race did I begin to warm up. I ran that warm up 10 minute mile, hoping that it would act as that primer even though there would be a gap of time between that mile and he actual race. Movement, stretching would help keep that warm up "attached" to the race. It did. Visualization is better and stronger than it's ever been for me before. .. It used to just for winning but now it's for running the race I want to run right now, my race. It takes more presence of mind to run this way, to visualize this way. Winning was easy, holding back when you need to, even conserving is harder, but necessary ...
The art of visualization was huge for me in this race. Once that switch was on and I could play I kept myself in check. I was flowing, it felt easy and light. That's where I wanted to be, to stay.
Mile 4 still felt great at 6:45 pace but I backed it down a bit to keep feeling the ease and fun. I probably could have kept it but I wanted to be smarter and ease back into this racing world with a gentle, fast and fun spirit that running is to me.
I felt like a gazelle barely landing on my toes before I leap again forward.
I'm happy with this race. Not because the time was great, because it's not super duper fast ... I'm happy with the way I raced, my attitude, with the wisdom and focus I ran with. To master the tools of focus, vision and wisdom of prior racing, who knows what the future of racing holds?
Race results:
http://www.runmeter.com

Kristen Westlake
Wildlife and Landscape Photography
http://www.Kristenwestlake.com
Blog: http://www.Kristenwestlake.net

Runmeter Run Nov 27, 2010 11:11:23 AM

Route: Kishwauketoe Varient Runs
Activity: Run
Google Maps URL: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/3302/7a27/4b65/7a5d/Runmeter-Run-20101127-1111.kml
Shortened Google Maps URL: http://j.mp/fVJC8E
Started: Nov 27, 2010 11:11:23 AM
Run Time: 37:53
Stopped Time: 0:00
Distance: 3.56 miles
Average: 10:39 /mile
Fastest Pace: 8:35 /mile
Climb: 0 feet
Calories: 326
Official Route: No
Notes: This day felt like a really slow pace - THAT is a GOOD thing. Because 9:30 pace felt fast or average (SSR) not long ago and yesterday's 7:30s felt like a fast but not overly fast SSR ... it means my body is adjusting and getting used to faster paces for slow runs and for faster runs.
By doing a race once a month over the winter it will keep helping my body to know faster and stronger limits.

http://www.runmeter.com

Kristen Westlake
Wildlife and Landscape Photography
http://www.Kristenwestlake.com
Blog: http://www.Kristenwestlake.net